Political Theory - Habermas and Rawls

Thursday, November 17, 2016

An English translation of a recent interview with Jürgen Habermas:"For A Democratic Polarisation: How To Pull The Ground From Under Right-wing Populism"(Social Europe, November 17, 2016)Originally published in German in "Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik" (November 2016). Excerpts"The new global disorder, the helplessness of the USA and Europe with regard to growing international conflicts, is profoundly unsettling and the humanitarian catastrophes in Syria or South Sudan unnerve us as well as Islamist acts of terror. Nevertheless, I cannot recognise in the constellation you indicate a uniform tendency towards a new authoritarianism but, rather, a variety of structural causes and many coincidences. What binds them together is the keyboard of nationalism and that has begun to be played meanwhile in the West. Even before Putin and Erdogan, Russia and Turkey were no “unblemished democracies.” If the West had pursued a somewhat cleverer policy, one might have set the course of relations with both countries differently – and liberal forces in their populaces might have been strengthened. (.....)The economic globalisation that Washington introduced in the 1970s with its neoliberal agenda has brought in its wake, measured globally against China and the other emergent BRIC countries, a relative decline of the West. Our societies must work through domestically the awareness of this global decline together with the technology-induced, explosive growth in the complexity of everyday living. Nationalistic reactions are gaining ground in those social milieus that have either never or inadequately benefited from the prosperity gains of the big economies because the ever-promised “trickle-down effect” failed to materialise over the decades. (......)As a sensible alternative (......) I would suggest there is only a supranational form of co-operation that pursues the goal of shaping a socially acceptable political reconfiguration of economic globalisation. International treaty regimes are insufficient here; for, putting aside completely their dubious democratic legitimacy, political decisions over questions of redistribution can only be carried out within a strict institutional framework. That leaves only the stony path to an institutional deepening and embedding of democratically legitimised co-operation across national borders. The European Union was once such a project – and a Political Union of the Eurozone could still be one. But the hurdles within the domestic decision-making process are rather high for that.Since Clinton, Blair and Schröder social democrats have swung over to the prevailing neoliberal line in economic policies because that was or seemed to be promising in the political sense: in the “battle for the middle ground” these political parties thought they could win majorities only by adopting the neoliberal course of action. This meant taking on board toleration of long-standing and growing social inequalities. Meantime, this price – the economic and socio-cultural “hanging out to dry” of ever-greater parts of the populace – has clearly risen so high that the reaction to it has gone over to the right. And where else? If there is no credible and pro-active perspective, then protest simply retreats into expressivist, irrational forms. (.....)In my estimate, domestic politicians mishandled right-wing populism from the start. The mistake of the established parties lies in acknowledging the battlefront that right-wing populism is defining: “We” up against the system. Here it matters hardly a jot whether this mistake takes the form of an assimilation to or a confrontation with “right-wing”. (.....)One would therefore have to make contrasting political programmes recognisable again, including the contrast between the – in a political and cultural sense – “liberal” open-mindedness of the left, and the nativist fug of right-wing critiques of an unfettered economic globalization. In a word: political polarisation should be re-crystallised between the established parties on substantive conflicts. Parties that grant right-wing populists attention rather than contempt should not expect civil society to disdain right-wing phrases and violence."

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Habermas: A Biographyby Stefan Müller-Doohm(Polity Press, 2016)598 pagesDescriptionJürgen Habermas’, wrote the American philosopher Ronald Dworkin on the occasion of the great European thinker’s eightieth birthday, "is not only the world’s most famous living philosopher. Even his fame is famous." Now, after many years of intensive research and in-depth conversations with contemporaries, colleagues and Habermas himself, Stefan Müller-Doohm presents the first comprehensive biography of one of the most important public intellectuals of our time. From his political and philosophical awakening in West Germany to the formative relationships with Adorno and Horkheimer, Müller-Doohm masterfully traces the major forces that shaped Habermas’s intellectual development. He shows how Habermas’s life and work were conditioned by the possibilities offered to his generation in the unique circumstances of regained freedom that characterized postwar Germany. And yet Habermas’s career is fascinating precisely because it amounts to more than a corpus of scholarly work, however original and influential that may be. For here is someone who continually left the protective space of the university in order to assume the role of a participant in controversial public debates - from the significance of the Holocaust to the future of Europe - and in this way sought to influence the development of social and political life in an arena much broader than the academy. The significance and virtuosity of Habermas’s many writings over the years are also fully and expertly documented, ranging from his early work on the public sphere to his more recent writings on communicative action, cosmopolitanism and the postnational condition. What emerges from this biography is a vivid portrait of one of the great public intellectuals of our time - a unique thinker who has made an immense and lasting philosophical contribution but who, when he perceives that society is not living up to its potential for creating free and just conditions for all, becomes one of its most rigorous and persistent critics.Contents [pre-view]PrefacePrologue: The Other among his PeersPart I: Catastrophe and Emancipation1. Disaster Years as Normality. Childhood and Youth in Gummersbach2. At University in Göttingen, Zurich and BonnPart II: Politics and Critique3. Education intellectuelle in Café Marx4. Under the Aegis of Conflicting Personalities: Abendroth and Gadamer5. Back in Frankfurt. Torn between Academic Work and Political Practice6. In the Ivory Tower of Social Scientific ResearchPart III: Science and Commitment7. Genius Loci: In Frankfurt for the Third Time8. New Projects9. Battles over the Politics of Ideas10. Against Germanomania and NationalismPart IV: Cosmopolitan Society and Justice11. Critique as a Vocation. The Transition into the Third Millennium12. The Taming of Capitalism and the Democratization of Europe13. Philosophy in the Age of Postmetaphysical Modernity14. Books at an ExhibitionEpilogue: The Inner CompassBibliography of Works by Jürgen HabermasStefan Müller-Doohm is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Oldenburg. His other works include "Adorno: A Biography" (Polity Press, 2005). The German version of the biography was published by Suhrkamp Verlag in 2014. See my links to reviews of the book.A review of the English edition:* "A Lion in Winter" by Peter E. Gordon (The Nation)

Saturday, July 02, 2016

Jürgen Habermas and the European Economic CrisisCosmopolitanism ReconsideredEd. Gaspare M. Genna, Thomas O. Haakenson & Ian W. Wilson(Routledge, 2016)224 pagesDescriptionThe European Union entered into an economic crisis in late 2009 that was sparked by bank bailouts and led to large, unsustainable, sovereign debt. The crisis was European in scale, but hit some countries in the Eurozone harder than others. Despite the plethora of writings devoted to the economic crisis in Europe, present understandings of how the political decisions would influence the integration project continue to remain vague. What does it actually mean to be European? Is Europe still a collection of peoples that rallied together during good times and then retreat to nationalism when challenges appear? Or has Europe adopted a common identity that would foster solidarity during hard times?This book provides its reader with a fresh perspective on the importance identity has on the functioning of the European Union as exemplified in Jürgen Habermas’ seminal text, ‘The Crisis of the European Union: A Response’. Rather than exploring the causes of the crisis, the contributors examine the current state of European identity to determine the likelihood of implementing Habermas’ suggestions.Contents [preview]Introduction - Gaspare M. Genna & Ian W. WilsonPart I: Foundations1. Democracy as Ideal and Practice: Historicizing The Crisis of the European Union - Christian Bailey2. Habermas on Human Dignity as the Origin of Human Rights and Egalitarian, Utopian Thinking - Jennifer FredettePart II: Values3. Cosmopolitanism, Trust, and Support for European Integration - Gaspare M. Genna4. European Reform from the Bottom Up? The Presence and Effects of Cosmopolitan Values in Germany - Aubrey WestfallPart III: Tools5. Reason, Faith, and Europe: Two German Perspectives What is Europe? -James M. Skidmore6. Cosmopolitan Reflections: Jürgen Habermas and W. G. Sebald - Ian W. WilsonPart IV: Institutions7. Educating the European Union: Internationalization through Integration - Thomas O. Haakenson8. European Integration and Economic Interests - Marcella Myer9. Does German Austerity Travel? - David O. Rossbach10. On the Pouvoir Constituent of the European Union - Erik O. EriksenConclusion - Gaspare M. Genna & W. Wilson